The crosslinking of hydroxyl polymers is well known, especially in the area of coatings on substrates and/or particles.
However, the crosslinking of hydroxyl polymers wherein a crosslinking system via a crosslinking agent crosslinks hydroxyl polymers together to produce a polymeric structure, such as a fiber, a film and/or a foam is not well known.
The relatively few prior art attempts at producing polymeric structures of hydroxyl polymers crosslinked together, such as fibers and/or films, have been unsuccessful due, in large part, to the crosslinking systems utilized in such processes. If a crosslinking system is too reactive, then the hydroxyl polymer may be substantially crosslinked prior to melt processing of the hydroxyl polymer and/or the viscosity of the hydroxyl polymer melt composition may increase significantly thus negatively impacting, if not completely inhibiting, processing of the polymer melt composition into a polymeric structure.
Accordingly, there is a need for a crosslinking system, especially a crosslinking agent, for hydroxyl polymers, especially melt processed hydroxyl polymers, and processes for crosslinking such hydroxyl polymers to form polymeric structures, wherein the processes overcome the problems described above.